Can we admit that, for one damn reason or another, the United Snakes Of America is incapable of running anything resembling intelligence gathering, espionage, regime change, or any interference w/ sovereign gov'ts.?

And that these United Snakes apparently cannot/will not learn shit from anything?

I'm not going to argue the individual choices (most of which strike me as somewhere between obvious and banal) but the fact that McCormick didn't include the Neil Innes solo that slices this song in half...

Today is Thursday, Dec. 31, the 365th and final day of 2009. Today is New Year's Eve. The UPI Almanac.Today's Highlight in History:On Dec. 31, 1909, the Manhattan Bridge, spanning the East River between Manhattan and Brooklyn, was officially opened to vehicular traffic by New York City Mayor George B. McClellan Jr. on his last day in office.On this date:In 1759, Arthur Guinness founded his famous brewery at St. James's Gate in Dublin.In 1775, the British repulsed an attack by Continental Army generals Richard Montgomery and Benedict Arnold at Quebec; Montgomery was killed.In 1857, Britain's Queen Victoria decided to make Ottawa the capital of Canada.In 1862, President Abraham Lincoln signed an act admitting West Virginia to the Union.In 1877, President and Mrs. Hayes celebrated their silver anniversary (actually, a day late) by re-enacting their wedding ceremony in the White House.In 1879, Thomas Edison first publicly demonstrated his electric incandescent light in Menlo Park, N.J.In 1908, Holocaust survivor and Nazi hunter Simon Wiesenthal was born in Buczacs in what was then Austria-Hungary.In 1938, the first breath test for drivers, "drunkometer," was introduced in Indianapolis.In 1946, President Harry S. Truman officially proclaimed the end of hostilities in World War II.In 1961, the Marshall Plan expired after distributing more than $12 billion in foreign aid.In 1963, the Central African Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland was formally dissolved.In 1964, the al-Fatah guerrillas of Yasser Arafat launched their first raid on Israel.In 1969, Joseph A. Yablonski, an unsuccessful candidate for the presidency of the United Mine Workers of America, was shot to death along with his wife and daughter in their Clarksville, Pa., home by hit men acting under the orders of UMWA president Tony Boyle.In 1974, private U.S. citizens were allowed to buy and own gold for the first time in more than 40 years.In 1978, Taiwanese diplomats struck their colors for the final time from the embassy flagpole in Washington, D.C., marking the end of diplomatic relations with the United States.In 1983, the court-ordered breakup of the American Telephone and Telegraph Co. took effect at midnight.In 1984, the United States' first mandatory seat belt law went into effect in the state of New York at midnight.In 1986, 97 people were killed when fire broke out in the Dupont Plaza Hotel in San Juan, Puerto Rico. (Three hotel workers later pleaded guilty in connection with the blaze.)In 1987, Robert Mugabe was sworn in as Zimbabwe's first executive president.In 1994, Russian forces launched a full air and ground attack on Grozny, the capital city of the rebel republic of Chechnya.In 1997, Michael Kennedy, the 39-year-old son of the late Sen. Robert F. Kennedy, was killed in a skiing accident on Aspen Mountain in Colorado. In Sorocaba, Brazil, riot troops stormed a prison where inmates were holding hundreds of hostages, quickly ending a three-day rebellion without any deaths. In 1998, Europe's leaders proclaimed a new era as 11 nations merged currencies to create the euro, a shared money they said would boost business, underpin unity and strengthen their role in world affairs.In 1999, people around the world celebrated while awaiting the arrival of the year 2000. Russian President Boris Yeltsin announced his resignation (he was succeeded by Vladimir Putin). The eight-day hijacking of an Indian Airlines plane in Afghanistan ended peacefully. The United States prepared to hand over the Panama Canal to Panama at the stroke of midnight. Former Attorney General Elliot L. Richardson died in Boston at age 79.In 2002, emerging from holiday seclusion at his Texas ranch, President Bush told reporters an attack by Saddam Hussein or a terrorist ally "would cripple our economy." [Bush left it to capitalists, real estate speculators & mortgage lenders to "cripple our economy." — Ed.] Two U. N. nuclear inspectors expelled by North Korea arrived in China, leaving the communist nation's nuclear program isolated from international scrutiny. An explosion at a clandestine fireworks factory in the Mexican port city of Veracruz ignited an entire city block, killing 28 people.In 2003, a car bomb ripped through a crowded restaurant hosting a New Year's Eve party in Baghdad, killing eight Iraqis.In 2004, President George W. Bush pledged $350 million to help tsunami victims, and didn't rule out sending even more U.S. aid to help people recover from what he called an "epic disaster." Ukrainian Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych resigned, admitting he had little hope of reversing the presidential election victory of his Western-leaning rival, Viktor Yushchenko.In 2006, the death toll of Americans killed in the Iraq war reached 3,000. Hundreds of Iraqis flocked to the village of Ouja where Saddam Hussein was born to see the deposed leader buried in a religious compound 24 hours after his execution. Ordinary Americans paid their respects to former President Gerald R. Ford, walking slowly by his flag-covered casket in the U. S. Capitol. [Equal in life, equal in death. — Ed.] Also in 2006, Romania and Bulgaria joined the European Union bringing the number of countries to 27 and the number of citizens to 489 million.In 2007, President George W. Bush signed legislation to allow state and local governments to cut investment ties with Sudan because of the violence in Darfur. Sara Jane Moore, who took a shot at President Gerald R. Ford in San Francisco in 1975, was paroled after 32 years behind bars. The death toll in Kenya's post-election violence reached at least 140. Tribal uprisings were triggered after incumbent President Mwai Kibaki narrowly won re-election over Raila Odinga despite trailing by a wide margin earlier.In 2008, the U.N. Security Council held an emergency meeting on an Arab request for a binding and enforceable resolution condemning Israel and halting its military attacks on Gaza. A man left four gift-wrapped bombs in downtown Aspen, Colo., in a bank-robbery attempt, turning New Year's Eve celebrations into a mass evacuation. (The man, identified as 72-year-old James Chester Blanning, shot and killed himself.) A woman gave birth aboard Northwest Airlines Flight 59 while en route from Amsterdam to Boston. The U.S. economy wound up a dismal year as signs of recession grew. Major U.S. stock market indexes had their worse single-year performances since the Great Depression of the 1930s.Today's Birthdays: TV producer George Schlatter is 80. Actor Sir Anthony Hopkins is 72. Actor Tim Considine ("My Three Sons") is 69. Actress Sarah Miles is 68. Rock musician Andy Summers is 67. Actor Ben Kingsley is 66. Rock musician Peter Quaife (The Kinks) is 66. Producer-director Taylor Hackford is 65. Fashion designer Diane von Furstenberg is 63. Actor Tim Matheson is 62. Pop singer Burton Cummings (The Guess Who) is 62. Singer Donna Summer is 61.

In 1961, the Beach Boys played their first gig in Long Beach, California. They earned $300.In 1969, Jimi Hendrix's Band of Gypsys made its debut in New York.In 1970, six months after release of their "Let It Be" album, Paul McCartney filed suit in London seeking the legal dissolution of the Beatles' partnership.In 1972, the MC5 played their last gig, in Detroit. They were paid $200.In 1973, AC/DC made their concert debut in Sydney, Australia.In 1982, Little Steven Van Zandt of Bruce Springsteen's E Street Band got married in Asbury Park, New Jersey. Percy Sledge and Little Richard performed "When A Man Loves A Woman" at the reception.In 1984, drummer Rick Allen of Def Leppard lost his left arm in a car crash near his home in England. Allen stayed with the band, using a special drum kit.In 1985, singer Rick Nelson, 45, his fiancee, and five other people were killed when fire broke out aboard a DC-3 that was taking the group to a New Year's Eve performance in Dallas.In 1989, game show host Pat Sajak married former "Playboy" model Lesly Brown in Annapolis, Maryland.In 1991, Gilbert O'Sullivan won his lawsuit against rapper Biz Markie for using a sample of his song "Alone Again (Naturally)" for Markie's song "Alone Again." The case changed the rules of sampling by requiring that all samples be cleared before releasing them on another record.In 1993, Barbra Streisand performed her first paid concert in 22 years, singing to a sellout crowd at the MGM Grand Garden in Las Vegas.

In 2000, Black Crowes singer Chris Robinson married actress Kate Hudson in Aspen, Colorado. They have since divorced.In 2004, singer Natalie Imbruglia married Silverchair singer Daniel Johns in an exclusive resort in Australia. They have since divorced. Also in 2004, Rush guitarist Alex Lifeson was arrested after he and his son got into a fight with police during a New Year's Eve celebration in Naples, Florida.In 2005, Dick Clark returned to his "New Year's Rockin' Eve" telecast after missing the previous year because he had had a stroke. He was hoarse and sometimes hard to understand, but he said he "wouldn't have missed this for the world."Thought for Today: "No one ever regarded the first of January with indifference. It is the nativity of our common Adam." - Charles Lamb, English essayist and author (1775-1834).

First, President George W. Bush and Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld had criticized using the military for peacekeeping and reconstruction in the Balkans during the 1990s. As a result, “nation building” carried a derogatory connotation for many senior military officials, even though American forces were being asked to fill gaping voids in the Afghan government after the Taliban’s fall.

Second, military planners were concerned about Afghanistan’s long history of resisting foreign invaders and wanted to avoid the appearance of being occupiers. But the historians argue that this concern was based partly on an “incomplete” understanding of the Soviet experience in Afghanistan.

America certainly trips over its own dick (Or untied shoelaces, as it's obviously a nation of pin-dick motherfuckers whose peckers are unlikely to extend far enough to allow for pissing w/o squatting.) more than might be expected for such an exceptional, special, Founded By GAWD Hisse'f nation, doesn't it? Explain that, reactionaries!

Yes, Jim Hoft called someone "rude & offensive." We suppose that as long as they still pretend that reading & the like are important & that they "do too read, damnit!" at least a veneer of civilization will be maintained.

They're all certainly pretending to be outraged by Ms. Behar's outrageous statement. Of course, when Rush Limbaugh opens his yap it's brilliant sarcasm.

In response to Sweaty Teddy's swipe at the President (not his first mouth-raping, either)
comments at Hullabaloo contra Mr. Nugent & his brand of populism included these factoids:

Perceptions of Nugent's career depend upon what part of the country you live in. On the coasts, he barely registered apart from a couple of tracks like "Journey To The Center Of Your Mind" and "Cat Scratch Fever". But in the Midwest and South, the Nuge was big time; his tracks were constantly played on album rock radio and he consistently sold out arenas through the 70's up to the mid-80's. To this day, if you live in Detroit, Chicago, St. Louis, Atlanta or other heartland metropoli, you never are far from hearing "Stranglehold", "Wango Tango", or other Nugent standards on classic rock radio.

If you get the chance, check out "Papa's Will" from his early live LP Survival Of The Fittest. Some of us knew that bastard was insane 40 years ago.
dr sardonicus | Homepage | 12.29.09 - 11:45 pm |

We admit to not having heard too much of the Nuge post-"Stranglehold," because we are the very definition of coastal elitist (Go on, look it up. You'll see!) but we were out of the loop as far as Ted's non-stop popularity in the self-styled Heartland. The video was recorded at the House of Blues in Anaheim, in 2007, but the bookers &/or the O. C. audience may have been being ironic.

Today is Wednesday, Dec. 30, the 364th day of 2009. There is one day left in the year. The UPI Almanac.Today's Highlight in History:On Dec. 30, 1853, the United States and Mexico signed a treaty under which the U.S. agreed to buy some 45,000 square miles of land from Mexico for $10 million in a deal known as the Gadsden Purchase. (The area covered by the agreement is located in present-day southern Arizona and southwestern New Mexico.)On this date:In 1813, the British burned Buffalo, N.Y., during the War of 1812.In 1862, the Union ironclad ship USS Monitor sank off Cape Hatteras, N.C., during a storm. Sixteen members of the crew were lost.In 1865, author Rudyard Kipling was born in Bombay, India.

In 1903, about 600 people died when fire broke out at the recently opened Iroquois Theater in Chicago.In 1907, the Mills Commission issued its final report, concluding that Abner Doubleday had invented baseball, a view few sports historians, if any, agree with.In 1911, Sun Yat-sen was elected the first president of the Republic of China.

In 1922, Vladimir I. Lenin proclaimed the establishment of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics.In 1936, the United Auto Workers union staged its first "sit-down" strike, at the Fisher Body Plant No. 1 in Flint, Mich.In 1940, California's first freeway, the Arroyo Seco Parkway connecting Los Angeles and Pasadena, was officially opened. In 1947, King Michael of Romania agreed to abdicate, but charged he was being forced off the throne by Communists.In 1965, former Philippines Senate President Ferdinand Marcos was inaugurated president of the Southeast Asian archipelago nation.In 1972, the United States halted its heavy bombing of North Vietnam.In 1978, Ohio State University fired Woody Hayes as its football coach, one day after Hayes punched a Clemson University player during a game.In 1986, Exxon Corp. became the first major international oil company to withdraw from South Africa because of that nation's racial policies.In 1988, President Ronald Reagan and President-elect George H.W. Bush were subpoenaed to testify as defense witnesses in the pending Iran-Contra trial of Oliver North. (The subpoenas were subsequently quashed.)In 1989, a Northwest Airlines DC-10, which had been the target of a telephoned threat, flew safely from Paris to Detroit with 22 passengers amid extra-tight security.In 1992, Ling-Ling, the giant female panda who delighted visitors to Washington's National Zoo for more than two decades, died of heart failure.In 1993, Israel and the Vatican agreed to recognize one another.In 1994, a gunman walked into a pair of suburban Boston abortion clinics and opened fire, killing two employees. (John C. Salvi III was later convicted of murder; he died in prison, an apparent suicide.)In 1995, North Korea released a U.S. Army pilot whose helicopter had been shot down 13 days earlier over North Korean territory.In 1997, a deadly massacre in Algeria began in four mountain villages as armed men killed 412 men, women and children in an attack that lasted from dusk until dawn the following morning.In 1998, weak but radiant with pride, Nkem Chukwu, the mother of the Houston octuplets, went home from the hospital.In 1999, in Tampa, Fla., a gunman opened fire inside a hotel, killing four co-workers before shooting a fifth person dead as he tried to escape. (A suspect, housekeeper Silvio Izquierdo-Leyva, later pleaded guilty and was sentenced to life in prison.)In 2002, a suspected extremist killed three US missionaries at a Baptist hospital in Yemen. (The gunman, Abed Abdul Razak Kamel, was executed in February 2006.) China catapulted a fourth unmanned craft into orbit. [Imagine how much farther along their space program would be if they used rockets. — Ed.]In 2003, the federal government announced it would ban the sale of ephedra, an herbal stimulant linked to 155 deaths and dozens of heart attacks and strokes. Author John Gregory Dunne died in New York City at age 71.In 2004, Democrat Christine Gregoire was declared victor of Washington's gubernatorial election over Republican Dino Rossi by a mere 129 votes out of more than 2.8 million cast. A fire broke out during a rock concert at a nightclub in Buenos Aires, Argentina, killing 194 people.In 2006, Iraqis awoke to news that Saddam Hussein had been hanged; victims of his three decades of autocratic rule took to the streets to celebrate. The casket bearing the body of former President Gerald R. Ford arrived in Washington, D. C. Gerald "Wash" Washington, the mayor-elect of Westlake, Louisiana, was found shot to death in a parking lot; authorities ruled his death a suicide, a conclusion disputed by his family.In 2007, Kenya's President Mwai Kibaki was declared the winner of an election that opponents and observers alleged was rigged; violence flared in Nairobi slums and coastal resort towns, killing scores in the following days. The 19-year-old son of assassinated opposition leader Benazir Bhutto, Bilawal Zardari, was named symbolic leader of her Pakistan Peoples Party, while Bhutto's widower took effective control.In 2008, in a surprise move, a defiant Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich named former state Attorney General Roland Burris to Barack Obama's Senate seat. Israeli aircraft kept up a relentless string of attacks on Hamas-ruled Gaza, smashing a government complex, security installations and the home of a top militant commander. Russian President Dmitry Medvedev signed a law extending presidential terms from four years to six.Today's Birthdays: Actor Joseph Bologna is 75. Actor Russ Tamblyn is 75. Baseball Hall of Famer Sandy Koufax is 74. Actor Jack Riley is 74. Folk singer Noel Paul Stookey is 72. TV director James Burrows is 69. Actor Fred Ward is 67. Singer-musician Michael Nesmith is 67. Singer Davy Jones is 64. Actress Concetta Tomei is 64. Singer Patti Smith is 63. Rock singer-musician Jeff Lynne is 62. TV host Meredith Vieira is 56. Actress Sheryl Lee Ralph is 54. Actress Patricia Kalember is 53. Country singer Suzy Bogguss is 53. "Today" show anchor Matt Lauer is 52. Actress-comedian Tracey Ullman is 50. Rock musician Rob Hotchkiss is 49. Radio-TV commentator Sean Hannity is 48. Track star Ben Johnson is 48. Actor George Newbern is 46. Singer Jay Kay (Jamiroquai) is 40. Rock musician Byron McMackin (Pennywise) is 40. Actress Meredith Monroe is 40. Actor Daniel Sunjata is 38. Actress Maureen Flannigan is 37. Actor Jason Behr is 36. Golfer Tiger Woods is 34. TV personality-boxer Laila Ali is 32. Singer-actress Tyrese Gibson is 31. Actress Eliza Dushku is 29. Rock musician Tim Lopez (Plain White T's) is 29. Actress Kristin Kreuk is 27. Cleveland Cavaliers forward LeBron James is 25.Born This Date But Refuse to Respond to Stimuli: Titus, emperor (39); John Milne, seismologist (1850); Canadian economist and humorist Stephen Leacock (1869); Alfred E. Smith, political leader (1873); Japan's World War II Prime Minister Hideki Tojo (1884); Paul Bowles, writer and composer (1910); TV personality Bert Parks (1914); Jack Lord, actor (1920).

Today In Entertainment History December 30In 1928, rock 'n' roll pioneer Bo Diddley was born Ellas Bates in McComb, Miss.In 1944, Bob Wills and the Texas Playboys made their first appearance on the Grand Ole Opry.In 1948, the Cole Porter musical "Kiss Me, Kate" opened on Broadway.In 1962, singer Brenda Lee was slightly injured when she tried to rescue her dog from her burning home in Nashville. The dog died of smoke inhalation.In 1979, composer and lyricist Richard Rodgers died in New York at the age of 77. His musicals include "The King and I" and "The Sound of Music." Also in 1979, Emerson, Lake and Palmer announced they were splitting up. They later reunited.In 1981, XTC played their first American concert, in Philadelphia.In 1999, an intruder broke into George Harrison's home outside London and stabbed Harrison and his wife. Michael Abram was later found innocent by reason of insanity. Also in 1999, singer Johnny Moore of The Drifters died on his way to a London hospital after having breathing difficulties. He was 64.In 2002, singer Diana Ross was arrested for drunk driving in Tucson, Arizona. In 2004, bandleader and clarinetist Artie Shaw died in Thousand Oaks, Calif., at age 94.In 2006, more than 8,500 James Brown fans filled an arena in Augusta, Georgia, for a final, joyful farewell to the godfather of soul. Thought for Today: "Work is a dull thing; you cannot get away from that. The only agreeable existence is one of idleness, and that is not, unfortunately, always compatible with continuing to exist at all." — Rose Macaulay, English poet and essayist (1881-1958).

Tuesday, December 29, 2009

Second shot w/ new camera, which is perhaps not as crummy as the previous one, although it is not nearly as greenish-yellow in here as the photo indicates. The manual having a mere 134 pp., we're sure we'll have it mastered in no time. (I. e., never!)

Today is Tuesday, Dec. 29, the 363rd day of 2009. There are two days left in the year. [Where does it all go? — Ed.] The UPI Almanac.Today's Highlight in History:On Dec. 29, 1170, Thomas Becket, the Archbishop of Canterbury, was murdered in Canterbury Cathedral by knights loyal to King Henry II.On this date:In 1808, the 17th president of the United States, Andrew Johnson, was born in Raleigh, N.C.

Two hundred years ago, in 1809, British Prime Minister William E. Gladstone was born in Liverpool.In 1813, British forces burned Buffalo, N.Y., during the War of 1812.In 1845, Texas was admitted as the 28th state.In 1848, gas lights were installed at the White House.In 1851, the first YMCA in the U.S. was organized, in Boston.In 1890, the Wounded Knee massacre took place in South Dakota as an estimated 300 Sioux Indians were killed by U.S. troops sent to disarm them.In 1916, Grigory Rasputin, the so-called "Mad Monk" who'd wielded great influence with Czar Nicholas II, was murdered by a group of Russian noblemen in St. Petersburg, Russia. [Note for extra credit: Rasputin died on 30 December under the modern (Gregorian) calendar, on 17 December under the old (Julian) calendar; Russia didn't adopt the modern calendar until after the Revolution of 1917. Some sources list the death date as the 29th (or 16th) of December, on the theory that Rasputin died before midnight on the night of his murder. — Ed.]In 1934, Japan formally renounced the Washington Naval Treaty of 1922.In 1937, the Constitution of Ireland, changing the Irish Free State into Eire, went into effect.In 1940, Germany dropped incendiary bombs on London, setting off what came to be known as "The Second Great Fire of London."In 1957, the Detroit Lions defeated the Cleveland Browns, 59-14, to win the NFL Championship at Briggs Stadium in Detroit.In 1975, a bomb exploded in the main terminal of New York's LaGuardia Airport, killing 11 people.In 1978, during the Gator Bowl, Ohio State University coach Woody Hayes punched Clemson player Charlie Bauman, who'd intercepted an Ohio pass. (Hayes was fired by Ohio State the next day.)In 1983, the United States announced its withdrawal from UNESCO, charging the U.N. cultural and scientific organization was biased against Western nations.In 1986, former British Prime Minister Harold Macmillan died at his home in Sussex, England, at age 92.In 1989, playwright Vaclav Havel was elected president of Czechoslovakia by the country's Federal Assembly, becoming the first non-Communist to hold the post in more than four decades.

In 1992, a Cuban airliner was hijacked to Miami as part of a mass defection. Forty-eight of the 53 people aboard sought and were granted political asylum.In 1996, war-weary guerrilla and government leaders in Guatemala signed an accord ending 36 years of civil conflict.In 1997, Hong Kong began killing 1.4 million chickens to stem the spread of a mysterious bird flu that had already killed four people.In 1998, Khmer Rouge leaders apologized for the 1970s genocide in Cambodia that claimed 1 million lives. [Another version:] Two top Khmer Rouge leaders apologized for the deaths of as many as two million people during their regime in the 1970s, and asked Cambodians to forget the past.In 1999, the Nasdaq composite index closed above 4,000 for the first time, ending the day at 4,041.46.In 2002, Secretary of State Colin Powell, making the rounds of the Sunday TV talk shows, said there was still time to find a diplomatic resolution to North Korea's development of nuclear weapons, and that the situation hadn't yet reached the crisis stage.In 2003, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security announced that armed air marshals would be placed on foreign flights entering U.S. airspace that were believed to be at risk of terrorist attacks. Monsignor Michael Courtney, Pope John Paul II's ambassador in Burundi, was shot and killed by unidentified gunmen. Also in 2003, five bodies were recovered from the Christmas Day mudslide in California's San Bernardino Mountains, running the total to 12 with two others missing.In 2004, President George W. Bush assembled a four-nation coalition to organize humanitarian relief for Asia and made clear the United States would help bankroll long-term rebuilding in the region leveled by a massive earthquake and tsunamis. Bush denounced Osama bin Laden's call to boycott the Iraqi elections, saying that the balloting would mark a crossroads for Iraq.In 2006, word reached the United States of the execution of former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein (because of the time difference, it was the morning of December 30th in Iraq when the hanging took place). In a statement, President Bush called Saddam's execution a milestone on Iraq's road to democracy. Gerald R. Ford's flag-draped casket was carried into a church in Palm Desert, California, for a public viewing that marked the start of six days of mourning for the former president. More than 400 people died when a crowded Indonesian ferry sank in the Java Sea. AT&T won U.S. approval to complete an $85 billion takeover of BellSouth Corp. after it made a series of consumer-friendly concessions.In 2007, Australian David Hicks, the first person convicted at an American war crimes trial since World War II, was freed from prison in Adelaide after completing a US-imposed sentence. The New England Patriots became the first NFL team in 35 years to finish the regular season undefeated when they beat the New York Giants 38-35 to go 16-0. (New England became the first NFL team since the 1972 Dolphins to win every game on the schedule.) [You'd think The AP would note that the Pats went all the way to the Super Bowl & then LOST THE BIG GAME!!]In 2008, Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich's lawyer responded to impeachment charges, saying a vague array of charges and evidence did not merit removing his client from office. Somali President Abdullahi Yusuf resigned, saying he had lost control of the country to Islamic insurgents. The African Union suspended Guinea after a coup in the West African nation. Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barack told the Knesset that Israel was involved in "all-out war" with the militant group Hamas, the de facto ruler in Gaza. His remarks came as Israel pounded Hamas sites in the Gaza Strip from the air for a third day with the death toll topping 300. Also in 2008, French fashion designer Ted Lapidus died in Cannes at age 79. Today's Birthdays: Actress Inga Swenson is 77. ABC newscaster Tom Jarriel is 75. Actress Mary Tyler Moore is 73. Actor Jon Voight is 71. Country singer Ed Bruce is 70. Rock musician Ray Thomas is 68. Singer Marianne Faithfull is 63.

Jockey Laffit Pincay Jr. is 63. Actor Ted Danson is 62. Actor Jon Polito is 59. Singer-actress Yvonne Elliman is 58. Actress Patricia Clarkson is 50. Comedian Paula Poundstone is 50. Rock singer-musician Jim Reid (The Jesus and Mary Chain) is 48. Actor Michael Cudlitz is 45. Rock singer Dexter Holland (The Offspring) is 44. Actor-comedian Mystro Clark is 43. Actor Jason Gould is 43. Movie director Andy Wachowski is 42. Actress Jennifer Ehle is 40. Actor Patrick Fischler is 40. Rock singer-musician Glen Phillips is 39. Actor Kevin Weisman is 39. Actor Jude Law is 37. Actor Mekhi Phifer is 35. Actor Shawn Hatosy is 34. Actress Katherine Moennig is 32. Actor Diego Luna is 30. Country singer Jessica Andrews is 26.Born on This Date, But Not Celebrating:
Madame de Pompadour, mistress of French King Louis XV (1721); Scottish chemist Charles Macintosh, who patented a waterproof fabric (1766); Charles Goodyear, invented vulcanized rubber (1800); Pablo Casals, virtuoso cellist (1876); William "Billy" Mitchell, military aviator (1879); Vera Brittain, novelist, poet (1893); band leader Clyde "Sugar Blues" McCoy (1903); former Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley (1917); actor Ed Flanders ("St. Elsewhere") (1934). Today In Entertainment History December 29In 1955, 13-year-old Barbra Streisand made her first recording, "You'll Never Know."In 1957, singers Steve Lawrence and Eydie Gorme were married in Las Vegas.In 1967, musician Dave Mason left the band Traffic to pursue a solo career. Paul Whiteman, the "King of Jazz" and most popular bandleader of the pre-swing era, died in Doylestown, Pa., at age 77.In 1975, Paul Kantner and Grace Slick of Jefferson Airplane divorced.In 1980, singer-songwriter Tim Hardin died of a heroin overdose in Los Angeles at the age of 40. He's best known for composing the song "If I Were A Carpenter."In 1989, Jane Pauley marked her last day as co-host of the "Today" show after 13 years. Her successor was Deborah Norville.In 1992, actor Todd Bridges was arrested in Burbank, California. Police say they found speed and a loaded gun in his car, but Bridges claimed he had been framed. At the time, Bridges had been doing public service announcements telling kids to stay away from drugs. In 2003, actor Earl Hindman, who'd played the mostly unseen neighbor Wilson on "Home Improvement," died in Stamford, Conn., at age 61.In 2006, burlesque artist Dita Von Teese filed for divorce from singer Marilyn Manson, citing irreconcilable differences. They had been married barely a year. In 2008, Grammy-winning jazz musician Freddie Hubbard died in Sherman Oaks, Calif., at age 70.Thought for Today: "The wise man must be wise before, not after." - Epicharmus, Sicilian Greek comic poet (? - c. 450 B.C.E.) [Greco-Sicilian stand-up in the fifth century B.C.? Huh. — Ed.]

Lazy as we are, we nonetheless do not appreciate certain magazine & newspaper websites adding a link when we only want the text. And it's especially unappreciated when done as cheesily as we've high-lighted above.

We do appreciate every disease humans can acquire. Do your best, bugs.

We have no idea, as an accidental discovery of "Mentors" videos on YouTube indicated that many of the "live performances" were committed some time after El Duce's untimely death. Even if it is Sickie Wifebeater & Heathen Skum w/ some other idiot on the skins, they should just wise up. How long did the post-Jimbo Doors go, one album & a tour?

Today is Monday, Dec. 28, the 362nd day of 2009. There are three days left in the year. The UPI Almanac.Today's Highlight in History:On Dec. 28, 1832, John C. Calhoun became the first vice president of the United States to resign, stepping down because of differences with President Andrew Jackson.On this date:In 1065, Westminster Abbey was consecrated.In 1694, Queen Mary II of England died after more than five years of joint rule with her husband, King William III.In 1732, the Pennsylvania Gazette carried the first known advertisement for the first issue of "Poor Richard's Almanack" by Richard Saunders (Benjamin Franklin).In 1846, Iowa became the 29th state to be admitted to the Union.In 1856, the 28th president of the United States, Thomas Woodrow Wilson, was born in Staunton, Va.

In 1869, the Knights of Labor, a group of tailors in Philadelphia, staged the first Labor Day ceremonies in U.S. history.In 1905, the forerunner of the NCAA, the Intercollegiate Athletic Association of the United States, was founded in New York City.In 1908, a major earthquake followed by a tsunami devastated the Italian city of Messina, killing at least 70,000 people.In 1917, the New York Evening Mail published "A Neglected Anniversary," a facetious, as well as fictitious, essay by H.L. Mencken recounting the history of bathtubs in America. (For example, Mencken "claimed" the first American bathtub made its debut in the Cincinnati home of grain dealer Adam Thompson on December 20th, 1842, and that the first White House bathtub was installed in 1851 at the order of President Millard Fillmore.)In 1937, composer Maurice Ravel died in Paris.In 1945, Congress officially recognized the Pledge of Allegiance.In 1950, advancing Chinese troops crossed the 38th Parallel, dividing line between North and South Korea, to help the communist North Koreans fight U.S.-led U.N. forces.In 1958, the Baltimore Colts won the NFL championship, defeating the New York Giants 23-17 in overtime at Yankee Stadium, in what has been dubbed the greatest football game ever played.

In 1973, Alexander Solzhenitsyn published "Gulag Archipelago," an expose of the Soviet prison system.In 1981, Elizabeth Jordan Carr, the first American test-tube baby, was born in Norfolk, Va.In 1982, Nevell Johnson Jr., a black man, was mortally wounded by a police officer in a Miami video arcade, setting off three days of race-related disturbances that left another man dead. In 1985, warring Lebanese Muslim and Christian leaders signed a peace agreement backed by Syria.In 1987, the bodies of 14 relatives of Ronald Gene Simmons were found at his home near Dover, Arkansas, following a shooting rampage by Simmons in Russellville that claimed two other lives. (Simmons was later executed.)In 1989, Alexander Dubcek, the former Czechoslovak Communist leader who was deposed in a Soviet-led Warsaw Pact invasion in 1968, was named president of the country's parliament.In 1992, in a violent day in Lima, Peru, car bombs exploded outside two embassies, police thwarted a bank raid and rebels launched a missile attack on a police station. Five people were killed, 24 injured.In 1997, Hong Kong officials announced that all chickens in the territory would be killed in an attempt to eradicate carriers of the avian flu, which had killed several people. One woman was killed, more than 100 other people hurt, when a United Airlines jumbo jet en route from Narita, Japan, to Honolulu encountered severe turbulence over the Pacific.In 1998, American warplanes exchanged missile fire with Iraqi air defenses; President Bill Clinton said there would be no letup in American and British pressure on Saddam Hussein. Four people were killed when fierce gales struck during an Australian yacht race. Two other people disappeared and are presumed to have drowned.In 2000, the U.S. Census Bureau announced a total of 281,421,906 people in the nation. The figure was a 13.2-percent increase from the previous census.In 2001, U.S. President George W. Bush granted permanent normal trade status to China, reversing a 20-year policy.In 2002, the U.N. nuclear watchdog decided to pull its inspectors out of North Korea by New Year's Eve, a step demanded by the North. Mwai Kibaki and his opposition alliance won a landslide victory in Kenyan elections, breaking the ruling party's 39 year grip on power.In 2003, officials in Iran's ancient city of Bam said perhaps half the city's population of 80,000 were killed or injured in the earthquake that struck the area. Libya for the first time allowed U.N. nuclear officials to inspect four sites related to its nuclear weapons program. In 2004, the U.S. Agency for International Development said it was adding $20 million to an initial $15 million contribution for Asian tsunami relief as Secretary of State Colin Powell bristled at a U.N. official's suggestion the United States was being "stingy." Activist and author Susan Sontag died in New York at age 71.In 2005, former top Enron Corp. accountant Richard Causey pleaded guilty to securities fraud and agreed to help pursue convictions against Enron founder Kenneth Lay and former CEO Jeffrey Skilling.In 2006, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration ruled that certain meat and milk produced by cloned animals are safe to eat. A Louisiana grand jury indicted seven New Orleans police officers on murder and attempted murder charges related to an alleged 2005 police ambush about one week after Hurricane Katrina struck. President Bush worked nearly three hours at his Texas ranch to design a new U.S. policy in Iraq. [Wow! Three whole hours!! Who puts this shit out? Are we supposed to be impressed? — Ed.] Saddam Hussein's lawyer made a last-ditch effort to impede his client's execution. In Somalia, troops of the U.N.-backed interim government rolled into Mogadishu unopposed, putting an end to six months of domination of the capital by a radical Islamic movement. In 2007, hundreds of thousands of mourners filled the streets of the Pakistani village of Garhi Khuda Baksh for the funeral of Benazir Bhutto, the assassinated former prime minister. Tempers flared and nine people were killed in rioting before the start of the funeral procession. Six French charity workers who had been sentenced to eight years' forced labor in Chad for allegedly trying to kidnap 103 children were transferred to French custody. (The workers were later pardoned by Chad's president and set free.) Also in 2007, Nepal abolished its monarchy and became a federal democratic republic. President George W. Bush used a "pocket veto" to reject a sweeping defense bill because he objected to a provision that would have exposed the Iraqi government to expensive lawsuits seeking damages from the Saddam Hussein era. In 2008, a bomb-loaded SUV exploded at a military checkpoint in Afghanistan, claiming the lives of 14 schoolchildren. Two dozen officials from Saddam Hussein's government went on trial for their roles in the deaths of as many as 250,000 of Saddam's opponents in Iraq. The Detroit Lions completed an 0-16 season — the NFL's worst ever — with a 31-21 loss to the Green Bay Packers.Today's Birthdays: Bandleader Johnny Otis is 88. Comic book creator Stan Lee is 87.

Former United Auto Workers union president Owen Bieber is 80. Actor Martin Milner is 78. Actress Nichelle Nichols is 77. Actress Dame Maggie Smith is 75. Rock singer-musician Charles Neville is 71. Sen. Johnny Isakson, R-Ga., is 65. Sen. Tim Johnson, D-S.D., is 63. Rock singer-musician Edgar Winter is 63. Rock singer-musician Alex Chilton (The Box Tops; Big Star) is 59. Actor Denzel Washington is 55. Country singer Joe Diffie is 51. Country musician Mike McGuire (Shenandoah) is 51. Actor Chad McQueen is 49. Country singer-musician Marty Roe (Diamond Rio) is 49. Actor Malcolm Gets is 45. Actor Mauricio Mendoza is 40. Comedian Seth Meyers is 36. Actor Brendan Hines is 33. R&B singer John Legend is 31. Actress Sienna Miller is 28. Dead, Yet Today Would Have Been Their Birthday: Earl "Fatha" Hines, jazz pianist (1903); Lew Ayres, actor (1908).Today In Entertainment History December 28In 1897, the play "Cyrano de Bergerac," by Edmond Rostand, premiered in Paris.In 1944, the musical "On the Town," with music by Leonard Bernstein and book and lyrics by Betty Comden and Adolph Green, opened on Broadway.In 1968, the first big East Coast rock festival opened in Miami. Performers at the Miami Pop Festival included Chuck Berry, Country Joe and the Fish and Richie Havens.In 1976, bluesman Freddie King died in Dallas at age 42. He was a major influence on British rockers like Eric Clapton.In 1983, Beach Boys drummer Dennis Wilson drowned while swimming in the harbor at Marina Del Rey, California. He was 39.In 1991, nine people were killed at a benefit basketball game at City College in New York that featured Run DMC and LL Cool J. The victims were crushed when the crowd surged to get into the gym where the game was to be played.In 1993, country singer Shania Twain married producer Mutt Lange. They have since divorced.In 1996, actor Ken Wahl was arrested for allegedly threatening a bartender with a hunting knife in Los Angeles.In 1999, Clayton Moore, television's "Lone Ranger," died in West Hills, Calif., at age 85.In 2004, actor Jerry Orbach died in New York at age 69.In 2005, the body of singer-bassist Barry Cowsill of The Cowsills was found on a New Orleans wharf. He had been missing since Hurricane Katrina three months earlier. Cowsill was 51. Thought for Today: "Our chief defect is that we are more given to talking about things than to doing them." — Jawaharlal Nehru, Indian statesman (1889-1964).

Per Sully's Daily Dish, hot riot action live-blogged here. Now if some of these people would put down their camera-phones & pick up the gun ...The flames are the motorcycles of the basiji thug enforcers. They're just like ACORN, you know.

Today is Sunday, Dec. 27, the 361st day of 2009. There are four days left in the year. The UPI Almanac.Today's Highlight in History:On Dec. 27, 1968, Apollo 8 and its three astronauts made a successful night splashdown in the Pacific.On this date:In 1822, scientist Louis Pasteur was born in Dole, France.In 1831, naturalist Charles Darwin set out on a round-the-world voyage aboard the HMS Beagle. Darwin's discoveries during the nearly five-year journey helped form the basis of his theories on evolution.In 1900, prohibitionist Carry Nation carried out her first public smashing of a bar, at the Carey Hotel in Wichita, Kan.In 1941, Japanese warplanes bombed Manila in the Philippines, even though it had been declared an "open city."In 1945, 28 nations signed an agreement creating the World Bank.In 1949, Queen Juliana of the Netherlands signed an act recognizing Indonesia's sovereignty after more than three centuries of Dutch rule.In 1958, American physicist James Van Allen reported the discovery of a second radiation belt around Earth, in addition to one found earlier in the year.In 1959, the Baltimore Colts defeated the New York Giants 31-16 to win the NFL championship.In 1978, Algerian President Houari Boumediene, one of the Third World's most prominent and outspoken leaders, died after 40 days in a coma.In 1979, Soviet forces seized control of Afghanistan. President Hafizullah Amin, who was overthrown and executed, was replaced by Babrak Karmal.

AP correspondent Barry SchlacterIn 1991, a Scandinavian Airlines jet with 129 people aboard crashed and broke apart after taking off from Stockholm. No one was killed.In 1992, a U.S. jet shot down an Iraqi fighter over southern Iraq's "no-fly" zone in the first such incident since the Persian Gulf War.In 1997, Britain's Windsor Castle was reopened to the public following restoration work. One hundred rooms of the palace were damaged in a 1992 fire, & Billy Wright, Northern Ireland's most notorious Protestant militant, was shot to death by three members of the Irish National Liberation Army at the Maze Prison outside Belfast.In 1998, six inmates, including four convicted killers, escaped from Riverbend Maximum Security Institution in Tennessee. (All were recaptured by the end of the next day.) A week after she was born weighing just 10.3 ounces, the smallest of the Houston octuplets (Chijindu Chidera Louis) died from heart and lung failure.In 1999, space shuttle Discovery and its seven-member crew returned to Earth after fixing the Hubble Space Telescope. In 2001, President Bush permanently normalized trade relations with China, & U. S. officials announced that Taliban and al-Qaida prisoners would be held at the U. S. naval base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. [Yet another "day that will live in infamy." — Ed.]In 2002, a defiant North Korea ordered U. N. nuclear inspectors to leave the country and said it would restart a laboratory capable of producing plutonium for nuclear weapons. But the U.N. nuclear watchdog said its inspectors were "staying put" for the time being. A suicide truck-bomb attack destroyed the headquarters of Chechnya's Moscow-backed government, killing 72 people. Clonaid, a company founded by a religious sect that believes in space aliens, announced it had produced the world's first cloned baby, a claim subsequently dismissed by scientists for lack of proof.In 2003, coordinated rebel assaults in Karbala, Iraq, killed 13 people, including six coalition soldiers.In 2004, the death toll continued to rise in southern Asia in the wake of a huge tsunami triggered by a monster earthquake underneath the Indian Ocean. Opposition leader Viktor Yushchenko declared victory in Ukraine's fiercely contested presidential election. In an audiotape, a man purported to be Osama bin Laden endorsed Abu Musab al-Zarqawi as his deputy in Iraq and called for a boycott of January's elections.In 2005, Indonesia's Aceh rebels formally abolished their 30-year armed struggle for independence, under a peace deal born out of the 2004 tsunami.In 2006, Saddam Hussein urged Iraqis to embrace "brotherly coexistence" and not to hate U.S.-led foreign troops in a goodbye letter posted on a Web site a day after Iraq's highest court upheld his death sentence. Former Democratic vice presidential nominee John Edwards jumped into the presidential race a day earlier than he'd planned after his campaign accidentally went live with his election Web site a day before his scheduled announcement.In 2007, opposition leader Benazir Bhutto was assassinated in Pakistan by an attacker who shot her after a campaign rally and then blew himself up.

Show Bidness & Weaponry:In 1904, James Barrie's play "Peter Pan: The Boy Who Wouldn't Grow Up" opened at the Duke of York's Theater in London.In 1927, the musical play "Show Boat," with music by Jerome Kern and libretto by Oscar Hammerstein the Second, opened at the Ziegfeld Theater in New York.In 1932, Radio City Music Hall opened in New York City.

In 1947, the children's TV program "The Howdy Doody Show" made its debut on NBC under the title "Puppet Playhouse."In 1970, "Hello, Dolly!" closed on Broadway after a run of 2,844 performances. It had opened in 1964.In 1981, singer-songwriter Hoagy Carmichael died of natural causes at his home in Rancho Mirage, California. He was 82.In 1985, singer Simon LeBon of Duran Duran and model Yasmin Parvanah got married.In 1992, singer Harry Connick Junior was arrested in New York's Kennedy Airport because an unloaded gun was found in his carry-on bag. He spent a night in jail.In 1999, Puff Daddy and Jennifer Lopez were arrested following a shooting at a New York dance club during which three people were shot and wounded. Charges against Lopez were dropped. Puff Daddy was acquitted of gun and bribery charges. Former television executive Leonard H. Goldenson, who'd built ABC into a network powerhouse, died in Longboat Key, Fla., at age 94. In 2002, Oscar™-winning director George Roy Hill died in New York at age 81. In 2003, actor Alan Bates died in London at age 69.Thought for Today: "Everybody gets so much information all day long that they lose their common sense." — Gertrude Stein, American author (1874-1946).

Saturday, December 26, 2009

Fingers of fate

(Wally Skalij/Los Angeles Times/December 25, 2009)
Cleveland's Jamario Moon, LeBron James and Mo Williams watch foam fingers fly around the court as Lakers fans protest a technical foul against their team in the fourth quarter Friday.

Some in the Staples Center crowd litter the court with souvenir foam fingers and plastic bottles late in the Christmas Day game.

And on X-mess, for gawd's sake! Can we draw any conclusion at all from this? Is it more than the drunken/drugged & privileged being rowdy? Can we hope the new yr. will bring more hate, pain, rage, anger, fear, & nasty-to-violent rudeness? Obviously we're pulling for it, but is it grasping at straws to give weight to this?

Slowest news day of the yr.* Even tomorrow (Sun. the 27th, if you're reading this in the far future) will probably have more news/media activity, from the Sabbath gasbags & anticipation of something (possibly) happening next wk. So:

And another Seasonal favorite.

*Setting aside the utterly predictable & inane foaming about the increasingly absurd story of the true believer/banker's son who set his skivvies (& the contents thereof) on fire for Allah.

Today is Saturday, Dec. 26th, the 360th day of 2009. There are five days left in the year. Kwanzaa begins today.

This is Boxing Day. UPI Almanac.Today's Highlight in History:
On Dec. 26, 1799, former President George Washington was eulogized by Col. Henry Lee as "first in war, first in peace and first in the hearts of his countrymen."On this date:In 1776, the British suffered a major defeat in the Battle of Trenton during the Revolutionary War.In 1865, James H. Nason received a patent for a coffee percolator.In 1908, Jack Johnson became the first African-American boxer to win the world heavyweight championship as he defeated Canadian Tommy Burns in Sydney, Australia. (Johnson's victory sparked a search for a "great white hope" who would reclaim the title; Jess Willard accomplished the feat in 1915.)In 1909, illustrator Frederic Remington died in Ridgefield, Conn., at age 48.In 1917, during World War I, President Woodrow Wilson issued a proclamation authorizing the government to take over operation of the nation's railroads.In 1941, Winston Churchill became the first British prime minister to address a joint meeting of the U.S. Congress.In 1944, during the Battle of the Bulge, the embattled U.S. 101st Airborne Division in Bastogne, Belgium, was relieved by units of the 4th Armored Division.In 1947, heavy snow blanketed the Northeast, burying New York City under 26.4 inches of snow in 16 hours; the severe weather was blamed for some 80 deaths.

In 1966, the first Kwanzaa was celebrated.In 1972, the 33rd president of the United States, Harry S. Truman, died in Kansas City, Mo., at age 88.In 1985, zoologist Dian Fossey was found murdered in Rwanda.In 1996, 6-year-old beauty queen JonBenet Ramsey was found beaten and strangled in the basement of her family's home in Boulder, Colo. (To date, the slaying remains unsolved, despite a widely publicized "confession" by John Mark Karr.)In 1997, badly battered South Korean financial markets surged after the International Monetary Fund and the Group of Seven countries agreed on 10 billion dollar emergency loans to Seoul.In 1998, President Clinton, in his weekly radio address, urged Congress to lower the blood-alcohol limit for drunken driving nationwide to .08 percent.In 1999, the crew of space shuttle Discovery packed up its tools and prepared to return home after an eight-day mission of repairs to the Hubble Space Telescope that NASA declared a success. Alfonso Portillo, a populist lawyer, scored a resounding victory in Guatemala's first peacetime presidential elections in nearly 40 years. In 2002, it was announced that West Virginia resident Jack Whittaker had won the $314.9 million Powerball lottery jackpot, at that time a record prize. Israeli soldiers killed seven Palestinians in West Bank raids and reimposed a curfew on Bethlehem after briefly withdrawing over Christmas.In 2003, an earthquake struck the historic Iranian city of Bam, killing at least 26,000 people. Three snowboarders were killed in an avalanche in Provo Canyon, Utah. [Equivalence of wog & snowboarder lives noted, AP. — Ed.]In 2004, more than 200,000 people, mostly in southern Asia, were killed by a tsunami triggered by a powerful earthquake beneath the Indian Ocean.

An unmanned cargo ship docked at the international space station, ending a shortage that forced astronauts to ration supplies. Peyton Manning of the Indianapolis Colts broke Dan Marino's single-season touchdown pass record when he threw his 48th and 49th of the season against San Diego. (The Colts defeated San Diego in overtime, 34-31.) Reggie White, one of the greatest defensive players in NFL history, died in North Carolina at age 43.In 2006, former President Gerald R. Ford, who took over the White House after Richard Nixon resigned over the Watergate scandal, died in Rancho Mirage, California, at age 93. Iraq's highest court rejected Saddam Hussein's appeal of his conviction and death sentence and said the former president should be hanged within 30 days. (Saddam was hanged on December 30th, 2006.)In 2007, six people were found dead at a rural property east of Seattle; the property owners' daughter and her boyfriend were arrested. (Michele Anderson and Joseph McEnroe face charges of aggravated first-degree murder in the shootings of three generations of Anderson's family.) Francesca Lewis, the sole survivor of a plane crash in Panama, was reunited with her family after rescue workers brought the 12-year-old American girl out of a remote mountain area.In 2008, Caroline Kennedy emerged from weeks of near-silence about her bid for a New York Senate seat; in an interview with The Associated Press and NY1 television, the daughter of President John F. Kennedy said she felt compelled to answer the call to service issued by her father a generation earlier. (Kennedy later dropped her bid; Kirsten Gillibrand was appointed by New York Gov. David Paterson.)Today's Birthdays: Actor Donald Moffat is 79. Actor Caroll Spinney (Big Bird on "Sesame Street") is 76. R&B singer Abdul "Duke" Fakir (The Four Tops) is 74. Record producer Phil Spector is 70. "America's Most Wanted" host John Walsh is 64. Country musician Bob Carpenter (The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band) is 63. Baseball Hall of Fame catcher Carlton Fisk is 62. All-Star baseball player Chris Chambliss is 61. Baseball Hall of Famer Ozzie Smith is 55. Sen. Evan Bayh, D-Ind., is 54. Humorist David Sedaris is 53. Rock musician James Kottak (The Scorpions) is 47. Country musician Brian Westrum (Sons of the Desert) is 47. Rock musician Lars Ulrich (Metallica) is 46. Actress Nadia Dajani is 44. Rock musician J is 42. Country singer Audrey Wiggins is 42. Rock musician Peter Klett (Candlebox) is 40. Rock singer James Mercer (The Shins; Flake) is 39. Actor-singer Jared Leto is 38. Rock singer Chris Daughtry is 30. And The Dead: Frederick II, Holy Roman emperor (1194); Thomas Gray, poet (1716); Charles Babbage, mathematician (1791); George Dewey, admiral (1837) ["Fire when ready, Gridley!" — Ed.]; Henry Miller, author (1891); Mao Zedong, founder, People's Republic of China (1893); Richard Widmark, portrayer of psychos (1914);

Steve Allen, comedian, actor, author (1921); Alan King, comedian (1927); and dogsled racer Susan Butcher (1954).Today In Entertainment History December 26In 1944, Tennessee Williams' play "The Glass Menagerie" was first performed publicly in Chicago.In 1955, Decca Records released "See You Later, Alligator" by Bill Haley and the Comets.In 1957, Elvis Presley got a temporary draft deferment so he could finish the movie "King Creole." The Ingmar Bergman film "Wild Strawberries," starring Victor Sjostrom, opened in Sweden.In 1963, Capitol Records released the single "I Want to Hold Your Hand" by The Beatles, which became the band's first No. 1 hit in the US.In 1967, "Magical Mystery Tour," the Beatles' critically drubbed one-hour special, aired on BBC-1 television.In 1968, Led Zeppelin played its first US show, opening for Vanilla Fudge.In 1973, "The Exorcist" made its premiere nationwide.In 1974, comedian Jack Benny died. He was 80.In 1999, musician Curtis Mayfield died outside Atlanta, in Roswell, Ga., at the age of 57. In 2007, Joe Dolan, one of Ireland's first pop music stars, died in suburban Dublin at age 68.Thought for Today: "Christmas has come and gone, and I — to speak selfishly — am glad of it. The season always gives me the blues in spite of myself, though I manage to get a good deal of pleasure from thinking of the multitudes of happy kids in various parts of the world." — Edwin Arlington Robinson, American poet (1869-1935).

Follow straight to Hell!

E-Z 4 U

DISCLAIMER/INFORMATION/LEGALITIES

This "web log" is a not-for-profit undertaking conducted by an individual. Do not get all pissy w/ us until you've discussed the concepts of "fair use, " "slander," "libel," "assault," "mouth-raping" & "menacing w/ intent" w/ an attorney.

All copyrighted material appropriated for "fair use" purposes on this "web log" remains the property of the respective copyright holders. All comments posted to WEB OF EVIL (& ENNUI)™ should probably remain the commenters' "intellectual" property, and their individual responsibilities as well.

All other material originally appearing in WEB OF EVIL (& ENNUI)™, at the URL: http://mbouffant.blogspot.com,